The invited speaker of the Minority Intergroup during its meeting today in Strasbourg was Astrid Thors, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities who emphasized the importance to guarantee the respect for the rights of national minorities in and outside the EU.

Kinga Gál MEP (EPP) received the Parliament Magazine's MEP Award in the category of Justice and Civil Liberties. The award honors the MEP's professional work and accuracy in the past 5 years. The Hungarian EPP delegation congratulated Kinga Gál for her outstanding work and receiving the award.

Minority Protection in the EU

Parliamentary Activity (2009-14)

Standing up for Hungary

"Again and again there was a serious worry and concern about what is going on, about the rule of law in Hungary in general, without having one concrete single case of fundamental rights infringement or freedom of expression infringement where you could say that the rule of law did not function, where the courts did not work properly or the Constitutional Court did not act.

On the contrary, the court rulings prove - and look at the case of Klubrádió which was mentioned during the last debate -, that the courts are ruling independently. This is also the case if you look at the rulings of the Constitutional Court. They can't be regarded as pro-government or non-independent rulings. I don't understand why it is always questioned the rule of law if it is evidence - evidence that is showed today and is incorporated in all these working documents - that actually each institution is doing its work properly in Hungary. (...)

This is why I would like to ask you cooperate and try to find an adequate understanding of what is going on in Hungary and maybe more good will in approaching this whole process."